96 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
PACIFIC HALIBUT AND COD FISHERIES. 
The halibut banks off Oregon and Washington, recently surveyed 
by the steamer Albatross, were resorted to during the month of June, 
1915, by a portion of the halibut fleet sailing out of Seattle, from which 
grounds 26 haps of halibut were taken in that month, comprising 
1,318,000 pounds, valued at $64,623. As halibut were scarce on these 
grounds in the summer months, the remainder of the catch of that 
species landed at Seattle from June to December was taken from 
banks farther north, extending from Flattery Bank, off the coast of 
Washington, to Portlock Bank, Alaska. This amounted to 13,876,970 
pounds, having a market value of $820,585. In the first half of the 
calendar year 1916, 25 fares were brought from the banks off Oregon 
and Washington, amounting to 931,692 pounds, valued at $77,819. 
The total quantity of halibut landed at Seattle during that period, 
including the catch from banks farther north, was 7,391,384 pounds, 
valued at $608,947, taken in 274 trips. 
According to the Pacific Fisherman, the total catch of halibut on 
the Pacific coast by American vessels in 1915 was 50,238,390 pounds, 
of which 33,133,313 pounds were landed at Seattle, 11,323,500 
pounds in Canadian ports, and 5,781,577 pounds in Alaska, against 
48,902,575 pounds the preceding year, a gain of 1,335,815 pounds. 
The American fleet engaged in this fishery consisted of 100 sail, known 
as ‘‘independent’’ and ‘‘company’’ vessels, there being 89 of the 
former and 11 of the latter, ranging in size from 7 to 196 tons. The 
Canadian fleet comprised 27 vessels, the catch of which amounted to 
16,031,265 pounds, an increase of 1,074,465 pounds over 1914. 
The fleet employed in the cod fishery of the Pacific coast numbered 
20 sail, including 2 vessels engaged in transporting cured fish from the 
shore stations in Alaska. Three regions were represented in the 
fishery—San Francisco by 9 vessels, Puget Sound by 8 vessels, and 
Alaska by 3 vessels. One of the Alaskan vessels was lost in the early 
part of the season. The fleet met with very good success and made 
a catch of 3,798,071 fish, equivalent to 19,092,319 pounds, the fish 
being reckoned at 44 pounds each. The catch fell short of that of 
1914 by 122,831 fish, or 552,739 pounds. 
The work of collecting statistics of the quantity and value of 
fishery products landed at Seattle, Wash., by American fishing 
vessels was reestablished in June, 1915, by the appointment of a 
local agent at that port. The products landed from July, 1915, to 
June, 1916, comprised 513 trips, including 19,580,163 pounds of 
halibut, valued at $1,330,609, and 948,024 pounds of other species, 
valued at $23,285;. a total of 20,528,187 pounds, valued at $1,353,894. 
The monthly receipts by species are shown in the following table: 
